We were on the 20th floor of the PD (refer to Kyoto D’s data).
There were four of us, along with Kuro.
Before us stood a large door.
Beyond it lay the room known as the Boss’ Room.
「Health and magic power check. All good?」
「All good.」
「Yep, no problems here.」
「I’m ready.」
「Bark!」
Alright, looks like Kuro’s good to go, too.
The exchange might have lacked tension, but we weren’t letting our guard down.
We opened the door.
What emerged from inside was a massive white dog.
An inugami.
Hime was the first to strike.
「Bunshin!」
Four bunshins of Hime appeared.
Thanks to her increased skill, she’d managed to create up to five clones.
Each one had only 1/20th of the original’s health, making them quite weak. If they got hit by a wide-range attack, they’d be wiped out instantly.
But against the inugami, they were highly effective.
「「「「「Dagger Art, Faint Thrust!」」」」」
Faint Thrust—a dagger technique that splits the user’s body into three and attacks with knives simultaneously.
It wasn’t a skill bead technique, but rather Hime’s signature move that she’d learned through leveling up.
What happens when you use that skill along with her clones?
The number of Himes increased to fifteen.
The small cuts made by her daggers wouldn’t be enough to deal a fatal blow to a massive beast like the inugami.
Still, even a beast like this wouldn’t escape unscathed after being hit by fifteen dagger strikes.
Many small drops eventually form an ocean—though it might sound disrespectful to compare Hime’s attacks to mere drops.
「Release: Create Gunpowder. Release: Hot Stone Bullet!」
Shots rang out from Milk’s gun, threading through the gaps between Hime’s clones.
The bullet flew straight toward the inugami’s forehead.
「――Break!」
The bullet struck, and the moment its speed hit zero, it exploded.
The inugami let out a shriek.
Filled with rage, the inugami prepared for a powerful attack.
It was getting ready to unleash a roar.
If hit by the inugami’s howl, your body would freeze up for a full second.
One second might not seem like much, but in the heat of battle, it could mean life or death.
We had no time to cover our ears.
『Aoooooooon! 』
『Roaaarrrrrrrr! 』
As the inugami howled, Kuro let out a roar from right in front of it.
The two howls clashed, canceling each other out.
「God Breath Hammer!」
Ayame’s wind magic, infused with lightning, came crashing down on the inugami, attempting to crush it.
The force was nearly equal to my hellfire magic.
But even that wasn’t enough to bring the inugami down.
Well, it was the boss of the 20th floor, after all.
But this was the end.
Basic Swordsmanship Technique No. 6.
「Flower Cut」
By the time I spoke, it was already over.
I put back Futsu-no-mitama to its sheath.
From the inugami’s face, blood sprayed like crimson flowers blooming.
And left behind were a large magic stone, the inugami’s fang, and some D-Coins, which were automatically stored in our inventory.
「What’s the record?!」
「47 seconds—a new record!」
「Hell yeah! We broke 50 seconds!」
Man, that was a one-sided fight.
The first time we took down the inugami, it was pretty rough.
We even broke our substitute bracelets, and when Hime’s clones—back then she could only make four—were wiped out by the roar, I thought we were done for.
But once we realized that Kuro’s roar could cancel out the inugami’s, things got a lot easier.
We’ve gotten faster with each fight, and now, it feels like a time trial.
-0-
Everyone’s gotten a lot stronger.
Hime and I are both level 84, while Ayame and Milk are level 80.
We’ve been sharing the Growth Rings and Ribbons to boost our levels, but for some reason, I seem to level up faster.
It’s probably because of how experience gets distributed when the party defeats monsters.
In terms of raw destructive power, Ayame’s wind magic is the strongest, but she can’t always go all out.
Milk’s gun attacks, combining her potion and Flame Stone magic, are versatile but less powerful than Ayame’s magic.
My attack power has increased significantly, and I often land the finishing blows. Plus, thanks to my substitute skill, I take on damage for the others.
As for Hime, the reason she’s right behind me in level is because she’s efficiently leveling up with her clones. With four clones, she’s essentially leveling up five times faster.
She might even surpass me soon.
-0-
The safe margin for the 20th floor is level 95. They say you need to be at least level 100 to reliably defeat the boss.
Our levels still aren’t quite there, but it’s become a lot easier thanks to us being an Awakened and Sharp Abnormal party.
「This is it for today. Let’s head back and check everyone’s stats.」
Hime’s words reminded me—it’s been a while since we last checked our stats.
We’ve been leveling up, but it’s been about a month since we actually reviewed them.
We used the teleportation circle to return to the bedroom on the first floor.
We’d already paid Danpon for the room until today, the last day of our stay.
The four of us wrote down our stats on paper.
――――――――――――――――――
Makino Milk: Level 80
Funds: 777,777 D (Ranking: 1018 [JPN])
HP: 852/852
MP: 560/560
Attack: 592
Defense: 580 (+10)
Dexterity: 592
Agility: 580
Luck: 21
Skills: Flame Stone Magic, Drug Magic, Kinshitsu Souwa, Chest Armor, Basic Gunmanship, Advanced Gunmanship, Simple Compounding, Applied Concoction, Leaning Back And Forth Between Misfortune And Fortune
――――――――――――――――――
These are Milk’s stats.
She’s developed a skill in gunmanship.
In this world, Milk is the only one using a gun in the dungeons.
Like how I gained Basic and Applied Swordsmanship through leveling up, it seems skills evolve based on equipment and the environment.
By the way, Chest Armor not only boosts defense by 10 but also provides protection against chest-related damage.
The Leaning Back And Forth Between Misfortune And Fortune is a skill that reduces the effects of status ailments while boosting stats at the same time.
For example, during our recent fight, when Milk was hit by the inugami’s roar, the rest of us would’ve been frozen for a second, but Milk recovered in 0.5 seconds.
Additionally, for a minute afterward, her stats increased by 30%.
It’s a skill well-suited for Milk, whose low luck makes her more susceptible to status effects.
「A skill that takes advantage of bad luck… that feels kind of unfortunate.」
「Really? I think it’s a great skill that compensates for Milk-chan’s weakness.」
「Chest Armor though… that’s one dangerous skill.」
Hime commented, glancing at Milk’s chest.
Yeah, I’m not touching that one. Wouldn’t want to be accused of harassment.
――――――――――――――――――
Azuma Ayame: Level 80
Funds: 777,777 D (Ranking: 1017 [JPN])
HP: 839/839
MP: 1,220/610 (+610)
Attack: 505
Defense: 405 (+79)
Dexterity: 403 (+81)
Agility: 484
Luck: 55
Skills: Wind Magic, Learning, Kinshitsu Souwa, Flawless, Thunder Magic, Charge, Magic Fusion
――――――――――――――――――
These are Ayame’s stats.
There isn’t much of a difference between her and Milk’s stats.
But what stands out is her unique skill, Flawless.
This skill balances her weaknesses by raising her two lowest stats—out of Attack, Defense, Technique, and Agility—to match the second-highest stat. Thanks to this, her flaws are effectively covered.
While she may not have many skills listed, Ayame has used Learning multiple times, allowing her to access up to seven convenient monster abilities that aren’t shown on her current stats.
「Haa… still stuck with ‘Azuma’, huh…」
Ayame sighed, as she always does when she looks at her stats.
Back when Mizuno-san joined Tenka Musou, Ayame pouted, upset that her name didn’t have the character for ‘no’ in it like Mizuno’s.
At that time, Mizuno secretly told her that her name would change if she married me.
Mizuno must have realized Ayame’s feelings for me in that very moment.
She’s got the detective skills of a true sleuth.
Alright, next up—Hime’s stats.
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